


Lionheart

by rosievmc



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-04-24 06:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4909627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosievmc/pseuds/rosievmc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do when you discover that you've been lied to your whole life? Aurora Green is desperate to join the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix and continue the work her parents abandoned out of fear, but her involvement in the Order leads to unraveling a secret that just might tear her family apart. [Set during HP& the Order of the Phoenix]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr @wild-stdreams for edits etc relating to Lionheart, and thank you for reading!

Golden sunlight streamed in through the very slight crack in the deep red curtains, it cast a straight line of light across the oak flooring of the bedroom and began to warm the room that had fallen cold during the night. In the large four poster bed stirred a head of dark blonde hair, one hazel eye opened first, a groan emitted from a set of peach pink lips and then the other hazel eye begrudgingly opened up too. Morning had begun. 

The Gryffindor dormitory that housed four seventh year girls was where Aurora, the owner of those hazel eyes, found herself upon waking. For a brief moment she had expected to be at home, and couldn’t shake the odd sensation that the feeling of disorientation left behind in the back of her mind. 

Sitting up in bed and running a hand through her long hair, she cast her gaze around the room and found one of her roommates Jasmine, was just about to leave. Rory had slept later than everyone else, _again._ Jasmine laughed a little, “We tried waking you, honest.” She chimed before she lifted a hand and waved as she headed for the door, “make sure you’re not late for Flitwick again!” Jasmine called out behind her before the door shut and Rory was left alone. 

Swinging her legs out over the side of her bed, the desire to just dive back under the duvet and not emerge all day was almost overwhelming. Tuesdays always seemed to drag for Rory, and she couldn’t honestly remember a Tuesday she particularly enjoyed, maybe ever. 

By the time she had dressed in her uniform, making sure to straighten the prefect badge on her grey jumper, Rory gathered her Charms books and bounded down the stairs, her hair telling of the fact that she had just rolled out of — “Ow.” Something hard slammed up against Rory and she shook her head to try and clear the confusion.   
“HEY! Watch it.” She immediately spat out, before she had time to realise who it was that she had smacked into. He turned his head and raised a thick eyebrow, the anger practically radiated from the tall boy she had dived straight into in the rush she was in to get to class. Taking a step backwards up the stairs, Rory then froze.

“Oh, um, yeah. Sorry?” She offered, completely lost for words. He hadn’t spoken to her in almost two years, and Rory wasn’t sure she knew how to cope with that - never mind know how to deal with running head first into him in the Gryffindor stairwell. 

“Maybe you should be the one ‘watching it’ as you so put it.” That deep voice, it felt like warm honey. _No, no thoughts like that._ Aurora reminded herself angrily, this was the boy who had excluded her from his life after years of being inseparable. Letting her expression go stony, Rory kinked one eyebrow at the boy in front of her and remained silent. If two years of being ignored had taught her anything, it was just how to return the almost deafening silence. He turned and began to make his way - painstakingly slowly - down the stairs, leaving Aurora to potter behind him, trying not to get too close so that it would seem like she was being purposefully so. 

This day was starting off great, and to make it even better her Charms lessons were shared with the seventh year members of Slytherin house. Aurora found herself wishing desperately that she had Transfiguration first this morning so that at least she would've had her best friend Athea's face to look forward to, but that luxury was going to have to wait until third period. 

* * *

By third period Aurora had managed to rile herself up even further about running head first into 'idiotic-good-for-nothing-twat' as she had so dubbed him in her mind, so by the time she threw herself down onto the chair next to Athea King at half past eleven she was ready to blow something up - never mind trying to transform the colour of her eyes or eyebrows or whatever it was they would be trying to do today. 

"Well something's got your knickers in a twist today Miss Green," Athea observed with a smirk, she loved nothing more than to wind Rory up, it was so easy to do that minimal effort was often all that was required to be successful. Rory rolled her hazel eyes, and let out a loud sigh before she turned to look at Athea, raising an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't you like to know just who I practically head-butted on the stairs this morning whilst trying not to make myself even more late for Flitwick." Pinching the bridge of her nose, Aurora's face scrunched up as she tried to fight the oncoming headache that had resulted from the overthinking she had done for the past few hours. Athea didn't even need to ask who it was that Rory was talking about, she knew full well that there was only one person who could leave Aurora in such a terrible mood just from a sighting, never mind a full blown run-in, literally. 

"Well," Athea began, hushing her voice as McGonagall began talking about the importance of transfiguration to the world of magic for the million and third time since they started studying the subject in first year. "You're free after lunch yes?" She paused, receiving a nod from Aurora, "I vote a trip into Hogsmeade for a drink or ten, get that little mind of yours off crazy Gryffindor boys who can't see a good thing if it smacked into them on the stairwell." Rory shoved her shoulder against Athea's, and scowled which only made the Ravenclaw laugh. "You can thank me later, it's fine." She whispered, trying not to laugh again.


	2. Chapter 2

The prospect of several red currant rums that would lead, no doubt, onto Firewhiskey was the only thing that got Aurora through the painful third period Transfiguration. By the time they were let out of the classroom, she grabbed Athea’s arm and practically sprinted all the way to Hogsmeade. 

Rory had always thought that the village of Hogsmeade looked ten times prettier in winter, covered with snow. Even during the warmer months it always felt as though there was something in the air that surrounded the village that screamed Christmas. Perhaps it was the way that it looked like a child’s drawing of the start of a Christmas tale with the thatched roofs and wooden framed windows that certainly didn’t look as though they kept much heat in - or out, if summer decided to show itself. 

But at this time in the afternoon Hogsmeade wasn’t overpopulated with Hogwarts students, as the weekends often were. Sometimes, there was nothing worse than not being able to escape the population of her school - so Aurora tended to avoid Hogsmeade on a weekend if she could. It was much easier to enjoy the picturesque village when not being bumped into by snotty nosed third years left, right and centre. 

Aurora was often drawn to the idea of the Hog’s Head much more than she was to The Three Broomsticks, the fact that it wasn’t half as populated certainly made it more appealing but being friends with a girl like Athea meant that there wasn’t a chance hiding away in Merlin’s beard that she would be allowed to retreat to a dingy corner of the much less reputable inn. 

Pushing open the heavy wooden door to The Three Broomsticks, Rory flashed a smile at a fellow seventh year, Lucas Jarvin, sat in the corner with his girlfriend. He was one of the nicer boys in her year, and actually could hold decent conversation and wasn’t worried about being caught talking to- shock horror - a girl who wasn’t his girlfriend. Aurora couldn’t understand why some girls seemed to become over-reactive the minute their boyfriend appeared to have friends that were female. Perhaps Rory was the weird one for not understanding the rules of ‘girl code’ that every other female apparently knew word for word. Rory liked simplicity, the less complications the better - and when it came to friendships, boys always seemed to make the least complicated friends, with the exception of Athea of course. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t have other girls she could class as friends, but Rory didn’t have many friends regardless of gender, she was somewhat lacking of the social butterfly gene.

The two girls planted themselves at a table to the side of the inn, and Athea signalled over to Madam Rosmerta to give them two of their usual drinks. _Perhaps we’re here too often_ , Rory thought to herself but dismissed the idea anyway weren’t young people supposed to frequent pubs after all?

“So, grumpy pants, tell me more about running head-first into that _gorgeous,_ equally as grumpy Gryffindor pal of yours.” Athea chimed, flashing a stunning smile at her best friend who didn’t quite return the cheerful expression. 

Rolling her eyes, Rory thanked Madam Rosmerta for the drinks and took a large gulp of hers before she spoke, “You know he’s not my ‘pal’, I got demoted from that position two years ago remember.” 

Athea nodded her head thoughtfully, “Ah yes, his parents died and he became the doom and gloom master of the world. The brooding type always has extra added attraction though, no?” Aurora couldn’t deny the fact that it seemed like the girls in her year had become a lot more attracted to the boy who’s name she couldn’t face after his parents died and he became insular. They’d been attracted to him like flies ever since, but with no such luck - except from the occasional one night stand no doubt, but who knew. Rory had no communication with him, how could she ever know what really went on in his life anymore.   
“Thea, I really don’t wanna think about him.” The Gryffindor sighed, feeling a lump forming at the back of her throat. She bit down on her bottom lip to snap her attention to the pain it caused, instead of that heartbreakingly nasty expression that crossed his face when he looked down at Aurora. How could the way he looked at her have changed so dramatically? 

The small bell attached to the inn’s door rang as another customer entered, but Rory hardly ever paid attention to who entered and left The Three Broomsticks when she and Athea frequented it, but a flash of golden hair on top of a head that looked as though it belonged to a boy not too much older than herself caught her attention - if he was older, it couldn’t have been by too much but he certainly wasn’t a Hogwarts student, Rory would recognise him. 

“Oh hello.” Athea wiggled her dark eyebrows at Rory, “Not often we get a bit of fresh meat around here is it?” Aurora couldn’t help but laugh at her friend, to say that she didn’t often have to work too hard to get a boy to be interested in her, she had always wondered how Athea could still be interested at all in them. Boys gravitated towards the Ravenclaw like flies to honey, being a siren had that effect after all. 

“Now, now, Thea. Don’t scare the poor lad.” Aurora felt something strange stir inside her, like she had seen this boy before but she couldn’t quite place where or when or who he might be. The familiarity felt safe, and like it had been there for years. “Let me introduce myself first, scope him out - he might not be worth your time. Only the best for my best friend.” Flashing Athea her best smile, she winked as she stood up and wandered over to the bar where the boy with the golden hair had now sat down. 

“Um, hello, I’m Aurora.” She offered a small smile, which was greeted with a rather moody half-grunt of acknowledgement. What was it with boys around her today, were they all in cahoots to be rude to her? “My friend Athea over there, y’know the gorgeous one with the dark hair, yeah, she wanted me to ask your name,” He looked a little more interested, “Yeah, thought that would get your attention.” Rory added, a little over sarcastically. 

“Rueben.” The boy stated simply, offering a slight upturn of one corner of his mouth. “Durmstrang, before you ask.” Aurora had already opened her mouth to do so, she was pleased that she had been right that he wasn’t a Hogwarts student. For a girl who didn’t often socialise with many of her fellow students, she prided herself on knowing who pretty much everyone was.

“What brings you here? If you go to Durmstrang, that is.” Rory asked, the boy didn’t really look as though he was all that interested in talking to Athea’s less attractive friend, but he surely had already realised that there wasn’t much he could do short of leaving that would make Aurora leave him alone until she was satisfied her questions had been answered. 

“Visiting my father, he’s supposed to be around here, doing business I hear.” Rueben responded, turning to look at Rory with his piercing blue eyes. Almost the exact same blue of her mother’s eyes, Rory noticed. So why did he seem familiar? _Perhaps he’s a distant cousin or something_ , she thought to herself before offering Rueben a small smile.   
“Well, I’ll leave you to your drink.” Rory turned to return to her table, before remembering to add “Oh, my friend, her name’s Athea King, by the way.” 

By the time Rory sat back down at their table, Athea was practically bouncing up and down. “Since when did Aurora Calliope Green go up and talk to boys for me? You hate wing-womaning!” The Gryffindor couldn’t help but shake her head and laugh.

“Honestly? I thought I knew him from somewhere, he didn’t give me his last name though, just told me he was called Rueben.” She shrugged, whoever he was - he seemed like he was all about secrecy. Looking back up to where Rueben had been sat, he’d somehow left in the time that she had walked back to the table and said all of about ten words to Athea. A frown creased her forehead momentarily before she shook it away. Something told Rory that wouldn’t be the last she saw of him, she had the guaranteed lure of Athea Rose King to thank for that.

 


	3. Chapter 3

What is it about being at home that puts most people at ease? The comfort of your own familiar surroundings? Family members? Being able to let your strange little quirks out from their hiding places, being completely naturally yourself? Hogwarts felt like a second home, sure, but nothing compares to the house you grew up in. Rory didn’t go home very often during term, as not many people ever did, but this weekend Athea had gone home too - so there didn’t seem like much point in staying in the castle to brood over bumping into an ex-friend all alone. Rory didn’t have many other friends aside from Athea, she could chatter mindlessly to anyone and everyone and was a pretty sociable girl when needed, but she had always been the type to enjoy a small collection of very close friends rather than a large group of friends who aren’t quite fully trusted. 

The Green family home had been in the family for almost twelve generations now, with each generation redecorating to make it their own so that it stayed up to date. Black wrought iron fencing and gates enclosed the property, with a front garden that had a winding path down to the deep emerald coloured door. Flowers and shrubbery crowded the front garden, and as a child Aurora had always imagined that it was her own personal jungle - overflowing with life in the form of bright colours and greenery that attracted all sorts of creatures. 

The vast expanse of the house had always felt a little too small for the three Green family members that it currently housed, but it was home. Jeremy Green, Rory’s father, had been the youngest of his siblings but the only one who had wanted to carry on living in the family manor despite the fact that his siblings had larger families than his. Rory had filled the void of siblings with pets over the years and was always greeted at the gate by her large golden labrador Milo every time she came home, she’d never been able to work out how he always seemed to know when she was about to return home. 

With a backpack slung over her left shoulder, Rory pushed open the iron gate and bent down to plant a kiss on the top of Milo’s head as she tickled behind his ear, greeting her canine friend. “Come on pup,” She said to him, clicking her tongue as she set off down the path towards the heavy wooden door to her house. 

Placing a hand on the dark green painted door she imagined what the house would be like when it was just hers, and what her family might look like - she hoped it would be a bit more populated, three children always seemed like an ideal number to Rory, but maybe she’d never have children at all and live alone in the big empty house and grow old with a ridiculous number of furry companions and Athea instead - it was entirely plausible.

Pushing open the door, a wave of relaxation washed over the blonde as she stepped inside and kicked off her shoes, closing the door behind Milo as he plodded in after her. “I’m home! Just going upstairs for a bit!” She called to her parents who she could see sat in the drawing room down the hall. Annabel with her blonde hair piled up on top of her head, glasses on and her nose in a book as she often was. She had been a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, and was almost never seen without a book in her hand even in later life. Jeremy too was wearing his reading glasses, with the Daily Prophet held open in front of him. Both of her parents shouted their greetings and smiled at each other as their daughter thundered up the stairs, with her golden dog following close behind. Milo was like a shadow whenever Rory returned home, he adored her.

Tossing her backpack onto her large four poster bed, Rory shrugged off her coat and threw it over the arm of the big sapphire blue armchair in the corner of her room before she walked over to the side of her bed and knelt down next to it, sticking an arm underneath searching for the box she had hidden there a few years ago and never looked at since. 

Wrinkling her nose at the feeling of the thick layer of dust on the box, she pulled it out and sat back, crossing her legs as she carefully lifted the lid on her ‘repressed memory box’. Photos, letters, friendship bracelets, a leaf from the day they ran away from home together and spent a night up in the tallest tree in the forest so they could spot a unicorn and actually saw three. A girl with dirty blonde hair and her front tooth missing, a boy with brown hair and dark brown eyes that practically sparkled as the two of them pretended that the sticks they were fighting with were real swords. Fearless, full of life and always trying to search for a new adventure together. They were inseparable, until they were anything but by each others sides. Rory closed her eyes as she felt the pain permeate through her heart, trying to breathe through it. Caleb had been her whole world, her best friend who she told every secret she’d ever had, and now he glared at her in stairwells and barely grunted at her in acknowledgement most of the time. 

_Caleb Caleb Caleb Caleb Caleb._

The name swarmed her thoughts if she was weak enough to give in. Three years of practice had made it almost a rare occurrence for Aurora’s walls to fall down around her and let the ache for the boy who had known her better than she knew herself consume her. It fell over her in waves, making her breath choke in her throat as she tried desperately to build the walls back up, brick by brick to no avail. Photos poured out from her hands as she gave in to the lament of her lost friendship. 

Three years is a long time when you’re only seventeen, the difference in the people they’d become since they were fourteen was astounding. Practically adults now, they’d lost their childlike charm and grief had propelled them into maturity. Things would never be the same, she’d never look at Caleb the same way again, and she was sure that he’d never see her as the girl who was always covered in mud, bruises and scrapes with stray twigs or leaves in her hair as she thundered through the forest pretending to be galloping off into battle on her Thestral. 

A knock came at the door and Rory’s whole frame jumped at the noise, knocking her out of her bubble of self-pity. “Y-yes?” Her voice cracked around the lump that was stuck in her throat as she tried to stuff all the momentos of her past back into their enclosure. The door opened slowly and the head of Annabel poked around it cautiously. Mothers always seem to be able to sense whenever something is wrong with their child, without even having to be in the same room. 

“Hi honey, what are you up to?” Annabel’s honeyed tones questioned, padding over to the bed where she sat on the edge of it in front of her only daughter, tucking the front strands of Rory’s hair behind her ear for her. 

“Can you tell me about the Order? I don’t want to think about anything else.”

Annabel stiffened, as she always did upon hearing anything to do with the Order of the Phoenix, an organisation that had started with so much hope and courage but had taken many of her friends and even some family members from her. Bittersweet was the only word able to describe her memories of the Order. It stood with so much honour, but was tainted by the hardship it had come upon. 

To Aurora, the Order wasn’t tainted by the losses that it had suffered through, those only made it more honourable. War always amounts to loss, and sacrifices would always have to be paid. She wasn’t heartless, she just understood the consequences of signing up to fight for what you believed in. Even though she hadn’t met all of the Order members who lost their lives in the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, she knew that all of them would not be disappointed with the choices they made and that was something that Aurora wholly admired. All she had ever wanted when she was younger to be able to do something as brave as her parents had in being in the Order of the Phoenix, and she’d always been quietly disappointed in them for giving into the fear that their daughter might get caught up in the crossfire if they carried on being associated with the organisation. They had underestimated the determination of their daughter, and the fire that burned inside her to protect others, never knowing just how eager she was to put herself in the line of fire to fight with those who were brave enough to stand up to the evil that was surely bound to return, or had already returned, if the famous fifteen year old Harry Potter’s story was true about the Dark Lord’s return which Aurora honestly believed. 

“You know I don’t like talking about those times Aurora. Please stop asking.” Annabel sighed, wringing her hands in her lap as she avoided her daughters gaze knowing that she wouldn’t be able to escape the guilt that it would make her feel. “Why don’t you take Milo out to help clear your head?” She suggested before she stood, “I’m always here if you want to talk about anything other than the Order.” Her mother left, closing the door softly behind her.

Milo shuffled over to Rory and laid down, placing his head in her lap, gazing up to her with big chocolate brown eyes that practically begged to be taken out, making Rory laugh quietly as she stroked his golden fur, her thought of the Order’s losses bringing her right back to the same subject  - **Caleb**.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning it was decided. Aurora would brave the short walk across the street to the McKinnon manor, where she knew Caleb was home for the weekend too. This could go on no longer, she didn’t want to have a ghost of a best friend any more. She had spent the whole night trying to decide if it was a good idea or not, she fully expected the door to slam in her face when she turned up unannounced. But she had to try. 

Taking a deep breath, she made a fist and knocked on the burgundy door. Three years ago, she wouldn’t have even had to knock, she would have just waltzed straight in without a second thought. This felt unfamiliar and strange, and it wasn’t a feeling she was enjoying.

When the front door to Caleb’s house opened Rory made sure not to look as happy to see him as she felt inside, if she wanted to make him feel sorry for her to motivate him to cheer her up she had better make it wholly convincing. “I didn’t know you were coming home for the weekend.” Aurora raised an eyebrow at that, she knew that they had barely said two words to each other for the past three years but it was practically ridiculous to even suggest that Caleb had no idea she would be at home - he had always known more than he ought to about everyone and everything. “To what do I owe the _pleasure?”_ He drawled, stepping aside to let her in which surprised her. Perhaps there was more hope than she had imagined. Stepping inside the big, empty house Aurora was shocked at how clean it seemed, figuring that he’d gotten himself another house elf. “I dunno, I guess I just wanted to get away from home for a little bit. Figured you might want some company, plus I haven’t seen you much recently.” She said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I guess you probably heard about that tosser Henry dating all those girls - including me - at once?” She asked, steering herself towards the drawing room where she guessed Caleb had just been upon hearing the loud music.

Caleb threw his head back when Aurora’s back was turned, letting out a quiet frustrated sigh, there was almost very little chance of getting her out of his house without a fight now, that much he was sure of and so he followed the girl who had been his best friend since birth into the drawing room and closed the heavy wooden door behind them. 

Turning the music down a little, she then settled herself in an arm chair, flinging her legs over one of the arms. “I became one of those girls I used to laugh at, what an idiot.” She sighed, folding her arms over herself. 

Caleb’s thick eyebrows knitted together in a frown as he made a mental note to go searching for this Henry boy when he returned to the castle on Monday. They may have been estranged best friends, but Caleb knew that the over-protective instinct would never fade when it came to Aurora. “Would you like me to beat him up?” He asked simply, letting his expression relax despite the fact that he could feel his blood beginning to boil at the mere motion that someone had potentially upset Aurora, other than himself of course - he knew he had been upsetting her for three years now, it was obvious every time her hazel eyes looked at him. A sparkle somewhere in them had disappeared, been muddied and hazed over with the sadness much like he was sure any light in his eyes had disappeared the day he lost his parents.

Aurora rolled her eyes at him, a small laugh following soon afterwards as she clocked on to his expression, “Do you not think I’d have beaten him up myself by now if I wanted him injured?” She asked, raising her eyebrows, another small laugh shuddering through her small frame. “I gather you’ll probably go and find him anyway, perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned his name…” She trailed off as he left the room, a quizzical expression crossed her features as she wondered where he was off to, but this was soon answered when he returned with an unopened bottle of whiskey from his parent’s collection and two tumblers that clinked together in his other hand and then against the table as he placed them down. Rory lifted herself to move into a more upright sitting position on the chair, pulling her knees in closer to her on the armchair she was sat in, “Well this certainly seems like a good idea Caleb.” She wasn’t entirely sure that it actually was, how emotional she’d been today definitely wasn’t going to mix well with added alcohol, but she wanted a drink regardless - reckless, again. 

“You’ve always attracted the weird ones anyway, Aurora.” Caleb remarked as he filled the two crystal tumblers with the amber liquid. He didn’t really know what advice to offer her, he hadn’t let any girl get the better of his heart - it was broken enough already. “Must give off some sort of signal…” Hiding his grin behind the glass as he took a sip of his drink, it became apparent how easily he’d let his guard down when she approached him, it had been over a year since Rory had directly tried to talk to Caleb and so he’d been unprepared for her appearance at his doorstep and had let her in without even thinking twice about it but he wasn’t rude enough to ask her to leave before things got complicated again and they were left in limbo, not knowing how to act around each other. They’d slipped back into their old ways without a hitch, with the new addition of alcohol to their friendship of course, at fourteen it certainly wouldn’t have been whiskey they were drinking. 

“If you can’t laugh at yourself, laugh at the other three girls, they’ve been taken along for the ride too after all.” Caleb suggested with a shrug, taking another sip.   
“Hey, hang on, what other weirdos have I attracted?! I find that to be an uncalled for accusation. Oh, wait… you tried to kiss me when we were seven, does that make you a weirdo?” A smirk pulled itself across her pretty features, before taking a gulp of her drink. 

Aurora had always understood why Caleb had shut down after losing his parents, she understood why he pushed everyone to an arms length away, she understood that about everyone but herself. The Gryffindor girl wasn’t ever sure that she would be able to understand why she was pushed away along with everyone else. She then took a rather large gulp of the liquid in her glass, deciding that perhaps if she could get Caleb drunk maybe he’d actually open up enough to let her back in again. Downing the rest of the tumblers contents she then nodded her head towards him and raised an eyebrow, “Keep up McKinnon!”

“Oh come on, I was _seven,_ I still ate dirt at that age so that shows you how intelligent I was back then.” Caleb exclaimed, laughing quietly as the memory came back to him vividly. Stood in the forest they had been running around for hours, pretending to be a prince and princess or something of the sort and Caleb had turned and kissed her only to be shoved with both hands as Rory squealed in disgust. He finished his own glass, placing it down on the table before refilling both glasses.

“How was I supposed to know you’d turn out so _gross_?” He then remarked, returning her earlier smirk smugly. It was a complete lie though, he’d noticed her blossom into the woman she was becoming and kissing her again as they grew older had crossed his mind a few times, but it wasn’t something he’d planned to carry out. He had no interest in any romantic relations at all, they would merely tie him down when now he had nothing left to lose. It worked well for him, gave him more courage than he’d ever had before but it was reckless and undeniably dangerous.

He relaxed back against the sofa and threw his legs up onto the table with his ankles crossed over. “Don’t think I’m getting you drunk, Green,” he drawled with a mock-air of authority, “The last thing I want is your dad at my door…”

"I will get as drunk as I please, Caleb.” She said sternly, her eyebrows knitting together into an imitation of an irritated frown, “it’s not like I’ll get lost on the way home…” She added as an after-thought, but something in her didn’t really like the idea of having to go home, she always hated the idea of Caleb left alone in this giant house, not even a house elf (although perhaps maybe there was a new one, the place really was spotless) for company anymore. Perhaps she should buy him a pet, but Merlin knew that he would probably only try to push that away too. 

Perhaps it was when he began to push her aside that Aurora really began to notice Caleb more, or maybe it was just her age that finally let her see what he was growing into as the years passed but right now, sat looking at him something began to stir within her and she had absolutely no idea how to describe it. Desperately trying to shake the strange feeling off she took another sip of her freshly refilled glass and smiled at Caleb, her eyes trailing over the features of his face one by one from his forehead down to his chin. Lost in her own thoughts as usual, she remained silent for a while before she finally decided to speak once more, slowly beginning to feel the effects of the whiskey. 

“So, Caleb, are you going to tell me what you’ve been up to recently or what?” She asked cheerfully, as though nothing at all had ever changed between them - all the while taking sips of the whiskey every so often to add to the fuzziness that was beginning to descend over her as the alcohol took effect on her, being as slight as she was it didn’t take a lot of alcohol to loosen her off, especially not something as strong as whiskey. Placing her empty glass back down on the coffee table, she filled it back up herself this time with a mischievous grin directed straight at Caleb. A look he had seen far too often, a look he understood to mean trouble that would only end in the pair of them probably being as drunk as drunk can be, up to no good. His impossibly dark eyes drank her in as she refilled her glass and he then followed suit with his own, filling it to the brim so he could take his time with it, trying to find enough time to stall answering the question she had just aimed at him. What was there to say? That he lived and breathed the Order of the Phoenix? That the members practically lived here when they weren’t at Grimmauld Place, and that they were trying to fill in for his parents because the remaining members felt responsible for him, much to his annoyance.

It didn’t seem as though Rory planned to make the short trek across the road home tonight, so he had all the time in the world to try and come up with a fake girl to be supposedly dating that might satisfy her need to know that he wasn’t completely alone. Caleb may not have been very involved in Aurora’s recent life but he had always known how desperate she was to join any fight against evil and if she were to learn of the Order being back up and running he knew there was nothing he could do to stop her signing her name up to its ranks. 

“Oh, the usual teenage boy things. Quidditch, homework - _girls_.” Aurora’s stomach dropped unexpectedly, and she hadn’t quite pinned down why. Why hadn’t she expected him to be seeing people? Raising one eyebrow quizzically at Caleb, she almost found it impossible not to roll her eyes at him. Girls? Had he really been spending much time with anyone, let alone random girls that she had never even heard any mention of - news travelled fast at Hogwarts and Rory was sure that she would have heard about Caleb even making eyes at any girl, never mind if he was actually dating one. A slight pang of disappointment continually raced through her as she thought about Caleb dating someone else, ever since she was little Rory had simply assumed that she’d never find a man who could make her laugh like Caleb could and so she would simply never find someone she would consider good enough compared to him.

"Then why haven’t I heard about these girls? You know how news travels in the castle. Cut the bullshit.” She snapped at him, a frown furrowing her brow as she spoke. Rory had forgotten just how aggressive alcohol could make her if the right situation occurred. Rory was tired of him acting like he couldn’t trust her anymore, of acting like they didn’t know each other better than they knew themselves - bluntly, she wanted him to let her back in, she had put up with enough now, and pushing everyone aside simply wasn’t helping anyone, let alone Caleb. “I’ve had enough of you acting like this Caleb,” she said finally, letting her frown dissipate from her features as a wave of sadness engulfed her. 

To say that Caleb was taken aback by her sudden switch in mood was an understatement. It was understandable, to a certain degree - she had never really voiced her irritation about being pushed aside before, Caleb suspected that she had always been too afraid to. Aurora, afraid? It was almost unheard of. She hadn’t realised quite how upsetting it had been for the past couple of years not feeling like she was as important to him anymore, feeling like she was just any other friend - not one that had grown up with him and spent most of her childhood with him.

People had come to expect Caleb’s unwillingness to divulge information about his life and so he had expected Aurora to be the same, he had been closed off at the best of times before the loss of his parents so it wasn’t a new trait, only a heightened one. Almost tuning out, his dark eyes fell upon the fire burning in the hearth as he clenched his jaw tightly, but Aurora’s tirade carried on.

“It’s not fair on me to be treated like this, and it isn’t helping you either. I don’t want to force you to talk about what happened, I just want you to stop pushing me away. I’m your best fucking friend for Merlin’s sake!” She could feel the tone of her voice returning to anger slowly as she spoke, feeling as though her emotions couldn’t quite decide where to lay within her - she was utterly confused about her feelings towards Caleb’s behaviour. Surely, being pushed aside should have made her feel indifferent towards him, surely she shouldn’t care if he didn’t? But this was Caleb, and she couldn’t let him go - no matter what.

She went silent, and Caleb could feel himself bubbling over until he turned to look at her and exploded, “It isn’t _fair_ that my parents are dead! It wasn’t _fair_ that I was orphaned at fifteen with only an empty house to show for it!” He drained his glass of its amber contents and glared at the dark blonde girl across from him. 

“ _Life_ isn’t fair, Aurora, and you just have to deal with it. So- _fucking_ -what I haven’t been around for a while? _Big deal_.” It took everything in her not to recoil at his words as they stung her, feeling like acid had been poured over her skin and was peeling away at the strength she had left. 

“Oh come on,” She groaned, rolling her hazel eyes at him, Rory wasn’t sure that she could deal with much more of listening to him think only about himself. She herself had lost relatives to the Death Eaters, admittedly not ones as close to her as her parents, but nevertheless Rory had never believed in feeling sorry for herself for too long and couldn’t see why other people could possibly stand stewing in their own self-pity. “I’ve lost family members too Caleb, and I know its not fair that your parents aren’t here anymore but it’s not my fault, it wasn’t me who killed them so why should I be treated like shit by you because of it? Why should my best friend basically forget about me for three years?" It was at this point that Aurora stood up, placing her glass down on the coffee table before balling her hands into fists trying to hide it as her hands began to shake. Caleb didn’t want to fight with Aurora, but it was hard for him to see why she was being so angry about all of this.

Letting his expression relax, he refilled his glass and took another long drink before he spoke again, “I’m sorry for being a shitty, flaky friend, I really am. But I don’t need you snapping and bitching at me, alright? Because _I know_.” He pulled a hand through his hair and down his face, stopping at his mouth which muffled his words, “So stop before this turns into a big thing and I have to throw your skinny ass out onto the street.” He was trying to joke, and if it wasn’t for his hand the beginnings of a smile would’ve been seen. “I don’t want to do that, who else would I get plastered with?” He asked, dropping his hand to his side. 

“I don’t know Caleb, maybe you should get ‘plastered’ with someone who’s more worthy of your time, because for the past three years I apparently haven’t been good enough despite everything. Do you know how you’ve made me feel? Like I wasn’t the girl who knew you from the moment she was born, like I meant _absolutely nothing_ to you.” Aurora’s eyes began to fill with tears that she couldn’t quite decide if they were sad or angry tears. Stood there, unsure of what to do with herself she simply glared at her feet, feeling foolish for letting herself get so upset; allowing herself to feel this way.

If there was anything Caleb’s mother had taught him before she died was that he should never argue with a woman, as they would always be right. He had tried to brush off the argument before it expanded into what was unfurling before him right now, and he figured he had never stood a chance at trying to minimise the damage. When Aurora’s temper was set alight there was nothing you could do to put out the blaze. If it had been a boy, Caleb was sure that he would have broken his jaw for him by now - and had it been any other girl he would’ve picked her up and placed her outside by now. But this was Aurora. 

Looking back up at him, still trying to hold in the tears that had begun to form in her eyes, narrowing her eyes at him she stepped from foot to foot, trying to keep herself moving so she didn’t start to shake. "But I can tell you this for nothing Caleb Martin McKinnon, I will not be treated like shit by you any longer for something that wasn’t my fault.” With that, she stormed off, throwing the heavy wooden door of the drawing room open as though there was no weight to it at all. 

Following her out, he slammed the door shut behind her without a single word and locked it with a flick of his wand and strode back into the drawing room where he took hold of the now half empty bottle of whiskey and sat down in his chair. 

Walking briskly across the street, the tears began to stream down Rory’s face hard and fast as she let go of any hold she had kept on herself to stop the tears from appearing in front of Caleb. Sobs wracked her small frame and by the time she had reached the emerald front door she was struggling to keep quiet as she gasped for air. Hoping her parents were asleep she opened the door and began to run up the stairs, only to be stopped halfway by the sound of her mother’s voice. “Oh, Rory.” 

Aurora crumpled, falling to sit on the stairs as her mother placed her cup of tea on the sideboard and climbed the few steps up to her daughter. Wrapping her arms around her, stroking her hair lightly. She didn’t ask questions, she had seen this coming a mile off. After a few minutes Rory sat up and wiped at her eyes, mumbling that she just wanted to crawl into bed and so she did so, fully clothed. Joined by Milo, the blonde buried her face in his golden fur and let the sobs engulf her until she was tired enough to fall into a heavy sleep.

Over at the McKinnon manor, Caleb managed one gulp of the whiskey before he threw it into the hearth with a loud crash, and the violent storm carried on from there as the coffee table was overturned along with the arm chairs. Family photos in frames came crashing down and lay strewn across the floor with books and he only stopped when everything in the room was out of order. Flicking his wand at the fire it blew out and he left the room like that and retired to his room, still seething about Aurora and the harsh reality she had cried at him, one he clearly wasn’t prepared to accept.

 


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Rory awoke almost completely having forgotten the night before, until it came flooding back and instantly felt like a weight pressing down on her chest, she pulled the covers over her head and groaned, her face feeling swollen and itchy after being drenched last night by tears. What a crap weekend this was turning out to be. Suddenly, the door burst open and in came her Labrador, Milo, with a cheerful expression and a manically wagging tail as he leapt onto the bed and licked her cheek before settling down next to her. Rory reached over to her bedside table and grabbed her wand, flicking it at the door to shut and lock it, she didn’t feel like facing her mother again just yet. 

Across the road the morning was unforgiving as it roused Caleb from sleep, with a hangover that practically radiated out from his body and warped the world around him. Splashing a dash of whiskey into his coffee after a shower and a pain relief potion for the headache, he braced himself to face the wrath of Aurora Green once again as he would try to smooth things over.

With a deep breath, he rapped his fist against the emerald green front door and his worst nightmare opened the door - Annabel Green, with a face like thunder. She didn’t speak, she simply folded her arms across her chest and kinked one eyebrow expectantly at the boy who she had watched grow from a baby to a child to the almost-man he now was. A frown creased Caleb’s forehead and just as he opened his mouth to come up with some attempt at an excuse Annabel interrupted him with, “She’s in her room.” Stepping aside to let him in, Caleb ducked his head and jogged up the intricate staircase to the first floor where Aurora’s room resided.

Knocking against another wooden door, Caleb pressed his forehead against the wood knowing that what he was about to experience would be trying, and he was going to have to work his ass off to get back into Aurora’s good books. Rory hadn’t realised that she had drifted off again the knock woke her, and she had expected it to be her mother until a husked voice spoke. “Let me in Ro,” he said as he patted his palm against the door, “Let me in or I’ll break it down.” A lie, as he didn’t fancy facing any more fury from Annabel. For a slight woman she was incredibly intimidating, much like her daughter. “I swear to Merlin, Aurora…” 

At the sound of his voice she felt strange again like she had done the night before and this irritated her immensely as she was tired of not knowing what it was about Caleb that made her feel so abnormal these days. “Why should I let you in?” She asked, frowning at the wooden door. “Come to make me feel even more shit have you?” She then spat, pulling the duvet over her head.

As expected, she was as defiant as ever which only made the boy want to slam his body into the wooden door to break it down, but he resisted and instead let out a growl through clenched teeth.

She was so impossible that she was honestly enough to make him swear off women, “Oh grow up, would you?!” He hissed back through the wooden door. Marlene McKinnon had often said that the pair of them could win the award for most bickering in the whole universe, and Caleb couldn’t count the amount of times he’d made her cry while they were growing up, but this was different.

Searching around the hallway, Caleb opened a drawer of the decorative side table and found a hair slide which spread a smirk across his features. Shackle bolt had taught him at a young age how to pick locks, it was useful for if he was ever locked in a room without a wand. Straightening out the hair slide, he then pushed it into the lock and wriggled it around. 

Rory remained hid under the warm duvet whilst she listened to him tinkering with the lock on her bedroom door, she rolled her hazel eyes and almost found herself laughing at how persistent he was, and she couldn’t deny the fact that she was pleased that for the first time in almost three years he was actually making most of the effort, however little or big an effort that may have been for him. After a minute or so the door unlocked and sprung open like magic, granting Caleb access to the fortress that Aurora had excluded herself to. 

“You should have let me in because you know I would have found a way anyway,” the mangled slide was held up for her to see and then flung to sit on top of her chest of drawers “With or without your permission.” Caleb smirked smugly and wandered over to her bed where he toed off his shoes. If Aurora was so determined to revive their friendship then Caleb knew he barely had a choice in the matter, he would force his friendship back on her until she felt like she would suffocate - maybe that way she would come around to his way of thinking. Why set yourself up to feel more pain when you had to bury those you loved? Whistling at her dog to get off the bed, Caleb then tore the duvet from Aurora, met with protests, and laid down next to her, bringing the duvet back with him as Milo shuffled out of the room begrudgingly. 

“You made me feel just as shitty anyway, so quit the pity parade.” Caleb wrinkled his nose at her and pulled a face which was only met with Rory raising her eyebrows back at him. Her stubborn nature made her feel like pointing out that her so-called ‘pity-parade’ was not half as impressive as his own, however she decided to bite her tongue knowing that it wouldn’t make things any easier between them. Opening his arms to her, a crooked smile spread over his features, “I’m hungover, tired and we both know I don’t give up easily - so just stop. Stop sulking and come here.” For Rory, one night of feeling sorry for herself was enough for now and so she leaned into him, allowing herself to be immersed in his warmth as she breathed in his scent quietly; closing her eyes momentarily so that it was all she could focus on, feeling much more content in his embrace.

Each time she looked at Caleb she found herself amazed at how comforted she felt just by seeing his face, or even the back of his head if she spotted him in the crowd at Hogwarts, a wave of calm would wash over her, making her feel like she was at home. With an arm hooked around Rory’s slim waist and the other curled around her to meet his hand at her back, Caleb felt himself relax into their closeness. It was terrifying to be like this again with her, but he would try to right his wrongs no matter how difficult it was to try. 

“Shut up.” She simply said quietly, lifting her hand to her mouth as she nervously began to chew on her fingernails, a habit she had never quite been able to shake. “Maybe you shouldn’t have drank so much whiskey then, I have no sympathy for hangovers.” She stated with a small shrug, her mind beginning to drift. Why was she biting her nails? Why on Earth would she ever be nervous around Caleb? It was beginning to get quite irritating that she couldn’t work out what she was feeling anymore - normally she felt completely in control but these past few weeks she had felt nothing of the sort, her emotions were running wild with her and leading her down a path that she wasn’t entirely sure where it would lead to.

Caleb reached his hand up to pull hers away from her mouth, linking his fingers with hers so she couldn’t do it again. His chocolate brown orbs stared down at her as he tried to read her expression - normally she was easy to read, but she seemed out of sorts, but was it possible to even know what she was like three years on with only watching her from afar to reinforce his idea of the person she’d become.

Nuzzling against the top of her head, comforted by her scent Caleb murmured “No sympathy at all?” against her hair. It was almost too-warm beneath the covers but he didn’t really mind. The heat radiating from her body was one he could have happily burned up in. This feeling that was spreading between them was impossible to describe, it had been nurtured on both sides in secret, hidden from each other through gritted teeth and narrowed stares. It made Caleb want to push her much further away than he had done in the past three years. 

Looking at Aurora had felt different for a while, it changed on the morning of her thirteenth birthday when he spotted her bounding down the dormitory staircase into the common room with the biggest and most beautiful smile on her face. A word like pretty would never fit Aurora, it was too small a word. She was delicate looking but she was stronger than anyone would ever expect, and her eyes would always be hard to ignore, they require attention.

“Nope, no sympathy at all.” Aurora raised an eyebrow, “Surely you can remember just how stubborn I am.” Caleb almost choked on his laugh, it was impossible to forget how stubborn Aurora was, it was perhaps her most defining characteristic. 

Aurora had a tendency to forget to filter her thoughts as they came tumbling out of her mouth, and at a crucial point in time when she knew so well that she should be careful not to scare Caleb off back into the depths of reclusiveness, she opened her mouth and said something she knew she’d come to regret: “I missed you, Caleb.” Burying her face into the fabric of his t-shirt she tried her hardest to wish away her honesty.

Unlinking their fingers, Caleb grasped her chin between his thumb and fingers, he couldn’t gauge her expression when she tried to hide herself against his chest. The words caught in his throat the moment his eyes found hers, he couldn’t open himself up to her with words, he hadn’t been able to express feelings through language for such a long time now that he was wholly out of practice. His frame stiffened, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth - it was all he could offer her. 

Clearing his throat, he dropped his hand from its grasp on her face and lifted her up enough so that he could roll out of her bed, “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” Running a hand down his face as he turned he could practically feel the heat radiating from his cheeks, _blushing? Really?_ “I could eat a small dragon.”

Trying to hide the disappointment on her face, Aurora sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, having a moment facing away from Caleb to collect herself and let the frown dissipate from her features. “Yeah, sure, I’ll just go get changed.” Standing up and turning to offer him a small smile, she padded over to her chest of drawers and rummaged around for a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt before she dropped to a crouch to the bottom drawer and tried to discreetly pick out clean underwear without Caleb seeing. Something about the idea of him seeing any of her ‘delicates’ was horrendously embarrassing, especially seeing as none of them were all that attractive - the underwear she had grabbed had little cartoon owls all over them - _real sexy._

Scurrying into the ensuite bathroom and locking the door behind her, Aurora pressed her back against the wood and sighed as quietly as she could before she slid down to being sat on the floor, her clothes still clutched in her arms. 

_Shit, shit, shit._ If Caleb hadn’t been in the next room she’d probably have banged her head backwards against the door in frustration. How foolish it was to ever think that Caleb would reciprocate the feelings that were stirring inside her. Shaking her head of the thought, she stood and changed quickly before walking over to the sink where she splashed cold water onto her face and looked up at her reflection from underneath her eyelashes. Stood staring back at her was a little girl, with eyes and a nose that she felt looked too big for her her face. Another sigh escaped her peach-pink lips, wishing the ground would swallow her up now before she embarrassed herself again. Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the bathroom door and stepped back out into her bedroom where Caleb was waiting, sat on the edge of her bed with his shoes back on. 

“I take it those mean you planned on avoiding my mother and going out somewhere to get food?” She asked with a small laugh, nodding her head towards his shoes. 

Caleb stood and crossed the distance to where Aurora was stood and gazed down at her with his dark eyes, smiling lopsidedly at her, “I thought we could go to that bar in town that opened last week, I’m in need of a steak and I hear they do pretty good ones.” Rory wrinkled her nose at the thought of steak when she’d only just woken up half an hour ago, glad that she didn’t have to eat the same thing he wanted.   
“You’re just trying to avoid my cooking really, aren’t you?” She taunted, prodding him in the stomach before breezing past him to the doorway where for a brief second she turned and flashed him a devilish grin before disappearing down the stairs, closely followed by the tall boy as she shouted to her parents that they were going out. 

Caleb shrugged when they stepped out into the front garden of the Green manor, “I’m sure you’re a better cook than me, but that’s not hard.” This was the first time he’d been properly stood next to Aurora long enough to realise just how tall he had become, and that she had barely grown at all since she was fourteen. “When did you get so short, pipsqueak?” He asked, trying to hide the laugh that threatened to bubble up from the pit of his stomach. Within a millisecond of even thinking about making fun of her height compared to his she had whipped her head around to glare at him dangerously. 

“Not all of us are mutant giant freaks, Caleb.” Her expression relaxed into a smirk whilst the two of them began walking down the road towards town, and the prospect of food.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Sat at a table in the corner of the room, the pair of them had spent almost an hour laughing about nothing in particular, but everything. It seemed peculiar to go from absolutely nothing to being almost back to the two fourteen year olds that they had been when they had last been worthy of the title of ‘best friends’. It was like muscle memory, something your body can’t quite forget. 

The husked tenors of Caleb’s laugh, the way that Aurora’s nose crinkled when she tried her hardest not to snigger at something inappropriate. The golden flecks in Aurora’s eyes and the way that Caleb’s were so dark they were almost black - anyone else might’ve found his eyes intimidating, almost always narrowed disapprovingly, but Aurora had grown used to the stern look on his face and knew better than to let it unnerve her.

Sure, Caleb could be unpredictable when pushed but he would never harm anyone innocent. It wasn’t in his nature to hurt people without a moral enough reason. Typically he was quiet, brooding and sarcastic, but beneath all that lay one of the most caring people Aurora had ever known. 

Caleb ordered a bottle of wine when Aurora was engrossed in staring out the window at the people passing by, and her eyes lit up happily when it was placed on the table, only for her nose to crinkle in disgust immediately. “Red wine? Are you an old man already?” They’d already eaten and hadn’t quite found a good enough reason to part from each others company yet.

“So, we didn’t really properly catch up last night did we? I can only gather so much information from afar, tell me everything I’ve missed.” Aurora instructed before taking a sip of the red wine Caleb had poured out for her, trying her hardest not to make a face as it slipped down her throat, it wasn’t as bad as she’d expected, but she was pretty sure it would take some getting used to.

“Oh, well, I see Lupin and Sirius from time to time when I’m at home, they’re paranoid that I’m not taking care of myself - y’know how close they were with my mother.” The mention of Marlene almost stung Caleb, the word tasted almost wrong in his mouth, having not mentioned her in longer than he could remember. “A lot of their friends keep an eye on me really, if I’m honest. But at school I keep to myself, play Quidditch and sometimes frequent The Three Broomsticks if I feel I can cope with the company of our classmates.” Caleb shrugged lightly, it wasn’t all that far from the truth, it just left out some information here and there.

Everything started to make sense, but she’d suspected it for months. The cuts, the bruises badly hidden underneath his school uniform. Seeing his parents friends, who just so happened to all be the Order’s old members. It had barely been six months since the death of Cedric Diggory, he’d only been a year older than Aurora and Caleb, Athea had even been out on a date with him once only to turn up in Aurora’s room that same night complaining that he was simply too nice a person to ever be worth her time. Harry Potter, the ‘chosen one’ had claimed that the Dark Lord was back and Aurora didn’t need any convincing, she’d felt it coming for years. Nothing good ever lasts, and someone as hell-bent on taking over the magical world would not be defeated by a mere infant. 

The Order of the Phoenix was alive. And Caleb had joined its ranks, without telling her. Without asking her to join too. 

Here wasn’t the place to confront him about it, and Aurora had to do everything in her power to wipe the hurt from her face before he could notice it. Instead she offered a half smile and nodded at him, she would pry no further, worried that she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from shouting at him. They’d spent their childhood talking about how much they loved the idea of the Order, and fighting for what they believed in, so she understood wholeheartedly why he had joined, but it made her heart physically ache to think about the fact that he didn’t even have the inclination to at least tell her he’d joined. 

Even when they were young, Caleb would always protect Aurora from any harm he could. It was mildly irritating, the way he’d throw an arm out when he thought she might fall, only to shout at her if she’d ever try to do the same. People always tried to protect Aurora, like she was small and delicate and couldn’t possibly protect herself. It was frustrating, but she was determined that she’d prove herself one day.

“Sounds like an overwhelmingly normal life, really.” She said with a quick raise of her eyebrows, taking another sip of her wine. Caleb smiled crookedly at her, believing that he hadn't given anything away - why wouldn’t the friends of his late parents still check up on the orphaned McKinnon boy? He was none the wiser that Aurora had quickly placed everything together, parts of a puzzle that had been bothering her for the past year or so. Their eyes met, and Caleb felt a jolt of electricity that caught him off guard, how could someone be so different but still be almost completely the same? Being around her was making his thoughts scattered and hard to comprehend, and it was a strange sensation. 

There was a whole set of new rules between them now that they were older, borderline adults - things were the same, but also entirely new. 

“I still can’t believe you were with a guy like that idiot Henry.” Caleb’s tone was undertoned with irritation - was he jealous? It was hard to tell. “You really do have shitty taste, Aurora.” It was odd, that he insisted on calling her Aurora most of the time, with the occasionally slip up of the nickname only he called her, ‘Ro’. Most people called her Rory, even her parents. The formality made Aurora cringe almost, it was like he was trying to pretend that he wasn’t only a few months older than she was, but his life had aged him considerably, that much was obvious. A conversation change in the direction of Aurora was probably wise if he wanted to keep all attention away from how he spent his free time. 

“Don’t, Caleb,” she said in a small voice, looking up at him from underneath her long eyelashes. Aurora Green never admitted she was hurt to anyone but those she trusted with her life, and she didn’t try to hide the pain in her voice at the thought of how humiliated she had been made to feel, and it was certainly something that she didn’t want to share with Caleb. The snigger that followed at her taste in men wasn’t quite caught in time as it tumbled from her lips and into the space between them. Ironic that he should say that, and the thought made her glance back out the window again, desperate not to let things show too quickly, she’d already managed to scare him by telling him she’d missed him this morning, it was best not to bombard him too quickly. 

Looking up at the clock that hung above Caleb’s head, Aurora’s eyes widened in horror - she was going to be late. “Oh, um, Caleb I’m really sorry but I said I’d meet Athea for the typical boy talk, I’m sure she has plenty to be telling me of course.” Aurora grimaced in apology as she stood from the table. It was evident from Caleb’s face that he hadn’t even been expecting her to bolt off so quickly, especially when had been starting to forget about ever wanting to push her as far away as he did. 

His expression remained unreadable however as he nodded and offered a crooked smile, “No worries, I should go practice some Quidditch or do some homework anyway.” Standing too, he nodded his head toward the door, “I’ll walk you to wherever you’re off to?” 

Aurora didn’t know why she was so surprised that Caleb was being so polite, he had never been rude even if he had ignored her point blankly for two years after spending a year pushing her away inch by inch. 

By the time they stopped in front of the enormous King manor at the edge of Evanscliffe, Rory didn’t want to leave Caleb’s side - she had almost forgotten just how easy it was to lose track of time when she was talking to him, and it felt like her heart began to ache as she gave him a quick hug goodbye and bounded down the pathway to the front door of Athea’s family home. Caleb waited until Athea opened the door and Rory disappeared inside the manor with her before he turned and began the walk home, feeling as though he’d lost something without the small blonde bobbing along at his side. It was almost ludicrous how quickly she’d edged her way back in, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself for letting her do so. 

Rory had barely stepped foot inside the house when Athea was at her side with the biggest grin she could muster on her face, “Okay so… no beating around the bush. Spill. The. Beans. Every single one of them!” It had only been five days since Rory had smacked straight into Caleb on the stairwell and spent the rest of the day being angry about it, the situation certainly had changed. 

Rory rolled her hazel eyes and headed up the staircase, following the hallway down to Athea’s room before she even considered saying a word. She’d always loved Athea’s room - three white walls with one wall wallpapered in a deep sapphire with lighter blue flowers patterned all over it. A large four poster bed, not too unlike her own and beautifully intricate designs on every piece of off-white furniture. It always felt fresh and clear in Athea’s room, it brought her piece of mind somehow - much like being around her best friend always did. Athea stood in the doorway, one thick eyebrow kinked at her best friend as she waited for an explanation. 

It was then, that Rory couldn’t help the grin that spread over her lips, followed soon after by a blush that warmed her cheeks. Caleb would probably have absolutely no idea that Rory would ever react to being in his company in such a girly and almost un-Rory like fashion, but there she was, doing just that. 

Athea’s dark eyes couldn’t help but roll at her best friend’s gushing reaction, and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her before she headed to the bed and placed herself down on it. “So have you told him that you like him? Or are you just expecting him to figure out that’s why you’ve really wormed your way back into his life on his own?”   
Rory frowned a little, “I just got him to agree to be friends, Thea, I’m not planning on telling him anything else lest he run for the freaking hills.” She sighed, sitting down on the other side of the bed before she flopped down onto her back and stared at the canopy above it. 

“Okay, so do you plan on telling him that you basically know what he’s been up to?” 

“Nope.”  
“And that you’re joining the Order too?”  
“Again, nope.”  
“Okay so this will be interesting…”

Rory sat up and flashed a half-hearted glare at her best friend, she knew it was dangerous to test Caleb in that way, to just turn up at the Order of the Phoenix’s meeting where she was now almost entirely certain he’d be. He’d be furious, she didn’t need to even guess that he’d experience any other emotion in reaction to it. 

Aurora figured that maybe until she was sure the Order would let her stay that there wasn’t much point telling her parents just yet. She was gearing herself up for another argument with Caleb first, and then she’d handle her parents. They had given up their membership to the Order to protect Aurora, only for her to almost throw it back in their faces and throw herself into the flames herself - she knew that was how they’d see it, and understood why. But she couldn’t not join, it just wasn’t possible. 

* * *

 

In the house of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Aurora sat nervously at the large dining room table next to Nymphadora Tonks - the only member of the Order that Aurora actually knew well enough to probably consider an actual friend, and the one who had helped her even get to this meeting at all. Shacklebolt was against the idea of letting _another_ child join, but she was magically legal and almost what the muggles classed as an adult with her eighteenth birthday being only a few months away, he would only be resisting for her to join in a few months time. 

Some members were out on a raid, searching for Death Eaters to capture for information, and Caleb was amongst them. It had been tiring, and Caleb was in no mood to even attend this meeting, let alone for what was waiting for him in the form of a girl with hazel eyes and dark blonde hair. 

The second he stepped into the room his dark eyes narrowed in fury. Blazing fury. Fury a lot more intense than Aurora had anticipated, it was hard not to start edging her chair backwards to get as far away from Caleb as she could with a look like that on his face. 

“Outside. Now.” He growled at her from across the table, his hands curled into fists at his side. There wasn’t much choice in the matter, if she didn’t follow he planned on picking her up and carrying her out the door if he had to.    
Was this unforgivable? Would he stop talking to her again for this? She knew she cared if he did turn on the silent treatment but she also knew that she cared about joining the ranks of the Order just as much. 

Rory cast a worried look at Tonks who just shrugged and pulled an anxious face at her, “The meeting won’t start for another ten minutes or so, you have time to talk.” At that moment, Aurora wished she’d told her there was no time to talk just yet. 

Following Caleb out of the room she made sure not to slouch and kept her head held high - she would not be made to feel ashamed or guilty about this decision she had made and that was that.

“You’re bleeding, I’ll clean you up.” Aurora raised a hand to touch the cut on Caleb’s forehead only for her to grab hold of her wrist before she could even make contact. He looked away from her, and tried his hardest to keep his temper under control.

“What are you doing here? How did you know?” His voice was low, and wasn’t hiding his anger very well.

“It wasn’t exactly hard to deduce Caleb. Next time you try to keep things from me, try a little harder.” A brief sarcastic smile followed, “I’m here because I want to be, now where is a first aid kit, let me clean this cut.” Wrenching her wrist out of his grasp she waited expectantly for a few seconds until Caleb sighed and pointed at the door to the downstairs bathroom where a first aid kit was kept. Sure, she could clean it with magic but there was something about playing doctor that Rory had always loved, she’d been considering becoming a Healer after Hogwarts for a while now. 

Opening the cupboard door inside the bathroom she pulled out some antiseptic solution and poured it out onto cotton wool whilst Caleb sat on the edge of the bathtub so she didn’t have to stand on something to reach his forehead. 

“This will probably sting so don’t punch me in reaction okay?” A light attempt at a joke to try and ease the tension before she started to dab the cotton wool against the cut on his forehead lightly. 

“I don’t want you here. You’ll get hurt.” He said, finally looking at her properly. The concern practically poured from his expression, and it was touching to see how much he wanted to protect her. 

“I could get hurt crossing a road, Caleb. You can’t protect me from this. My family’s probably still a target as it is, there’s no guarantee the Death Eaters wouldn’t attack me even if I didn’t do this.” She shrugged, tossing the bloodied cotton wool into the waste basket before she inspected the clean wound. “I don’t think you need stitches, that should be fine healing on its own.”

“If you got hurt crossing a road you’d be a pretty awful witch, Aurora.” He tried to hide the smirk on his lips as he raised an eyebrow at her. “This is seriously dangerous, your parents gave it up to protect you and now you’re throwing it in their faces?”   
“Don’t you dare use that on me Caleb McKinnon, that is their battle to fight with me not yours.” She glowered at him before packing the contents of the first aid kit away. 

“Fine then, then quit because if you stay I won’t be able to do my job properly. Trying to keep an eye on you will distract me. You’re probably going to get me killed.” 

Rory whirled around to face him and rolled her eyes so hard they almost rolled out of her eye sockets. “I’ll be looking out for you, so you can shut up because we’ll protect each other. I don’t want to talk about this, it’s not up for discussion.”

Rory began to turn to pick up the first aid kit to put it away but was caught by two hands around her waist - Caleb’s hands. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing but he had already stood up and leant down to press his lips against hers before she could get a word out. The kiss was over within a few seconds and Rory almost stumbled backwards when Caleb’s hands left her waist after almost a minute of silence that followed. The thoughts in Aurora’s head were often too scattered and moving at such a rate that she barely ever had time to comprehend what was going on in her mind but for the brief moment they had kissed her mind had been completely silent - and it was bliss. 

“I, uh, hmm.” Words wouldn’t form, it had been what she wanted to happen, sure, but it was the last thing she expected to come from his end. When words failed her, she figured the only thing to do was to kiss him again - so she stood on her tip toes and placed her hands on either side of his face to bring it down to hers, pressing their lips together. His arms wound themselves around her small waist again, pressing her closer to him like he never planned on letting her out of his grasp - which she half expected to probably be true.

Caleb was tired of burying people he loved, and he would do everything he could to try and make Aurora leave the Order. Kissing her hadn’t been something he’d planned, it had just happened. 

A knock came at the door, breaking the two of them apart in shock. “The meeting’s about to start guys,” Tonks pushed the door open, “Just thought you should know.” There was the faint ghost of a smirk on her lips as she turned and left the doorway, heading back to the dining room. The blush that refused to leave Rory’s cheeks was sure to have given them away. 

Rory cast a look back at Caleb who was running a hand through his chocolate coloured hair, biting down on her lip as she tried to think of something to say about what had just happened but before she could string together a sentence Caleb pressed a kiss to the top of her head and left the room, heading back to the meeting. Leaving her stood in the bathroom with her fingers pressed against her lips where Caleb had kissed her. 


	7. Chapter 7

After a few seconds of trying to compose herself, Aurora followed Caleb out of the bathroom and back down the staircase to the cellar where the number of people sat around the room or leant up against other furniture had appeared. The numbers weren’t huge, sure, but the sight of these people here to protect the wizarding world only made Aurora feel encouraged, and she couldn't hide the little smile that made its way across her features. She spotted an empty armchair in the corner of the room and headed for it, curling herself up into a comfortable position as she waited for the meeting to commence. 

It wasn’t Rory’s age that was worrying Caleb about her part in the war that was brewing before them, it was everything about her part in it. She was mouthy, fiesty and she’d thrown a few punches in her time in corridors of Hogwarts, but she was also gentle and sweet, and Caleb just wasn’t sure she had it in her to kill someone, take a human life. He was sure that the rumours about a few Slytherins joining the dark forces were true, and he wasn't sure that Rory could handle coming face to face with a fellow student, and potentially having to kill them to protect somebody else. But a voice in his head told him that maybe he was underestimating Aurora, maybe she’d be more reckless than any other member of the Order. 

Shacklebolt tried to flash a smile that wouldn’t make Caleb want to kill him for allowing Aurora to join the Order, but it was a wasted effort as Caleb was still too angry to think about even speaking to anyone who had been involved in accepting her membership. 

“This will be good for you, even if you don't agree.” Tonks said quietly as Caleb stood next to where she was sat, and he couldn't stop the scowl that cast across his features as he ignored her words. 

Waiting for the room to quiet, Caleb began to twirl a ring dagger around his finger before he opened his mouth to recount the information they had retrieved that afternoon. 

“Dragons.” He said finally, which soon shut the final few people left chatting up. “Nott and Macnair were meeting with an illegal dragon breeder for some eggs, potentially Hungarian Horntails. We arrived before anything was exchanged but they weren’t unprepared for us, the eggs were broken in the scuffle but Nott had called in reinforcements before we could stop him. I guess from the states of our faces you can tell that it wasn’t entirely successful, we only managed to catch Nott and have him carted off with the Aurors that arrived shortly afterwards, but none of us have been badly hurt or captured, so there’s that.” He paused, and Aurora saw fear flash across his eyes for a second and it almost propelled her from the armchair she’d placed herself in. His tone lost its formality as he returned to the nearly-eighteen year old boy he was. “How in the name of Merlin’s beard are we going to fight dragons?” No-one could answer him that, and with that he retreated from his centre-stage position and sat down on the floor in front of the armchair Aurora was sat on, turning sideways to tip his face towards her, trying to gauge her feelings about all of this.

Rory herself had never even witnessed a live dragon except from diagrams in the textbooks she had used in her Care of Magical Creatures lessons with Hagrid, but she had stopped taking that class after her OWLs and so really, knew very little about them these days. Rory found herself slightly apprehensive about the idea of coming face to face with a Hungarian Horntail, but she couldn’t say the idea made her want to run all the way home crying to her mother about what a mistake this was. Aurora knew very well that this would not be easy, and she had accepted that just like everyone else had to.

“Still want to play a part in all of this Ro?” Caleb asked seriously, there wasn’t even a single trace of joking to his tone and that was what frightened Aurora a little. She nodded her head silently, and his eyebrows knitted together into a frown at the fact that she didn’t seem half as scared as he wanted her to be.

The more she thought about the dragons, the more she was simply eager to see one, perhaps not at the hands of Death Eater control of course, but nevertheless the idea of such a magnificent creature fascinated her curious nature. Aurora decided it was useless saying anything else to Caleb about this tonight, she was sure that it would be a problem that would follow her around until he eventually accepted that there wasn’t much that could scare her away from being a member of the Order. Aurora couldn’t quite imagine how long that might take though, she dreaded the thought actually.

Caleb began tracing circles on her knee absent-mindedly, their close proximity to each other didn’t bother him like he expected to after their kiss in the bathroom only fifteen minutes previous. Aurora cast her eyes down to look at his face as he lost himself in thought of how it would ever be possible to kill a dragon if it were attacking you, and she found it almost impossible not to reach a small hand out to touch his face purely just to feel his skin against the palm of her hand. 

“I won’t run at the first sign of danger you know,” She wasn’t entirely sure what she was referencing specifically, dragons or whatever it was that kiss was, but it applied equally, “You’ll have to try harder than that to terrify me to the point of retreat, and it’s a little insulting actually that you think I’d chicken out so easy.”  
“You classify dragons as ‘easy’ Aurora?” He kinked an eyebrow at her, and a dimpled smile cracked the serious expression he’d been holding, she was truly ridiculous. He’d never understood where a girl that tiny had found the endless supply of bravery - or stupidity as it was appearing to be more of - from. 

“Hey, if Fleur Delacour can take one on I’m sure I’m better than that french floozy.” Aurora rolled her hazel eyes and pouted in an attempt to imitate Fleur, one of the Triwizard Champions from the year before. Aurora had hated the students of Beauxbatons being around the castle purely because of the effect they’d had on the boys of Hogwarts - it had just been horribly irritating. Athea hadn’t much enjoyed it either, grumbling about those “French bitches stealing anything interesting left to do” at Hogwarts. 

Caleb shook his head at Rory and let the subject drop for the time being as people broke off from discussing the dragons amongst themselves. Shacklebolt stepped forwards to gain their attention, “You’ll have noticed our newest member I’m sure,” He began with a small smile in Aurora’s direction, “Aurora Green, daughter of Annabel and Jeremy, previous members of the first Order. So welcome, Aurora - if you’re anything like your mother I’m sure we’ll be singing your praises in no time.” With that, he dismissed everyone but invited anyone who felt like it to stay for a nightcap. Aurora couldn’t wipe the frown from her face at the mention of her mother’s contribution to the Order. Annabel refused wholeheartedly to ever talk about what happened when she was a member of the first Order, and to learn that she was a worthy asset should have made Rory proud but it only made her even angrier at her mother. She had been good at this, and even still she had refused to share her experiences with her daughter. 

Caleb rose to his feet and offered a hand towards a still frowning Rory, “Come on Ro,” he said, taking her hand when she remained stuck in her own little world. 

“Where are we going?” She mumbled, following him up the stairs quietly as she tried to shake the anger that had bubbled its way through her. 

“To your house, where you will provide me with food, of course.” Caleb simply said with a smile, taking hold of her hand again when they reached the front door of Shacklebolt’s house. “I can’t promise I won’t fall asleep on your sofa though,” He added as an afterthought before they disappeared in a plume of white smoke, reappearing in the same manner outside the Green manor front door. 

Pressing her hand to the painted wood of the door, she heard the click of the lock as it opened to her touch - an enchantment her father had been most pleased with himself on casting on their door - it opened to anyone who was welcome in their home. Kicking off her trainers at the door, Rory then padded down the hallway to the kitchen, greeted by a cheerful but sleepy Milo. Turning when she reached the island in the middle of the kitchen, she looked to Caleb who had leant himself up against the doorframe to the vast kitchen. Standing at six foot two, it was impossible not to be impressed by Caleb McKinnon’s stature - but Rory had grown much more fond of the features of his face than she would’ve cared to admit to him. It was almost hard to breathe, staring at him stood in her kitchen so casually. It wasn’t out of the ordinary as such, but everything had changed at the same time. 

Clearing her throat, she ran a hand through her hair, “So, what do you fancy?” 

The immediate answer that came to Caleb’s mind without his permission wasn’t exactly one he felt like sharing, but it made the boyish part of him smirk just a little. 

“Toast will do, I suppose. Can’t quite be expecting you to cook me a full meal at,” he paused, glancing down to check his watch, “twelve minutes to ten at night.” 

“You wouldn’t want to experience my cooking at any time of day” Aurora joked before opening up the bread bin on the counter and slotting four slices of bread into the toaster. Pulling herself up onto the counter whilst they waited, Aurora ran her hands over her face as she felt a wave of tiredness sweep itself over her. When she opened her eyes and let her hands drop to her lap Caleb was stood in front of her with an unreadable expression on his face. 

He took her small face in his hands and just looked at her without a word, and the world slipped away from Aurora as she lost herself in the dark brown depths of his eyes. The sound of the toaster brought the pair of them back to reality, and Caleb stepped back immediately, dropping his hands from her face before he turned to open the cupboard that housed plates, pulling two out and putting them on the counter next to where Aurora had been sat. 

“Caleb, why-” Rory began as she buttered their toast, but stopped herself. Asking him why he kissed her, what was going on between them, was surely going to be a disaster waiting to happen. Neither of them had ever really been the type to enjoy discussing feelings or awkward situations, but Caleb certainly hated it more than Rory did. Would voicing what it actually meant scare him off?

“Hmm?” 

“Never mind,” She shook her head, then took a bite of her toast. “Let’s go upstairs, my parents will still be in the living room probably and I don’t know if I can face them tonight.” Aurora had never kept anything from her parents, and she was sure she wasn’t going to be very good at it for long - the truth would slip out soon enough when she felt ready to tell them but she didn’t want it to be in front of Caleb. 

The pair headed upstairs to Aurora’s bedroom, where she settled herself on her bed to finish the toast before she wrapped a blanket around herself and relaxed back against the pillows. Caleb sat down on the end of her bed so he was facing her, feeling as though he were about to pass out from exhaustion. Perhaps it was strange now to have him in her room like this, sat opposite her on her bed. 

With a sigh, Caleb picked up their plates and walked over to her chest of drawers where he left them for the time being, “maybe I should head home, I’m pretty tired after today.”

Aurora frowned at him, and shook her head, reaching a hand out towards him as she mumbled “stay here.” 

Copying her frown, Caleb tried to think of reasons not to stay, and there were surely plenty, but none of them would force themselves from his mouth. He wanted to be around Aurora, he’d always wanted to be around her even when he had cut her from his life, but now it was impossible to resist. It was like an addiction, and he’d relapsed. 

With a sigh of defeat, he agreed to stay.

* * *

 

At precisely six AM the next morning Caleb made no attempt to quietly get out of bed, waking Aurora as he pulled his arm out from under her, albeit as gently as he could manage. She sat up quickly from the shock of being woken, her hair sticking out at all kinds of angles with a frown creasing her features as Caleb turned to look at her with a smirk on his face. 

“Good morning Miss Green.”

“Oh piss off, Mr McKinnon.” 

Caleb only laughed, getting out of bed and picking up his wand from the bedside table, twirling it around across his knuckles before he flicked it at the bed, lifting the duvet off of her just out of reach as Rory reached her arms up like a small child, grumbling that it was cold.   
“What are you doing, it’s barely even daylight!” She demanded, crossing her arms across her chest irritably.   
“Time to get you trained as a warrior, seeing as you want to play soldier.” He said as he pulled his jeans back on, them having been too uncomfortable to sleep in. The smug look on his face was enough to make Rory swing her legs over the side of her bed and play along. She’d quit complaining and be the perfect student, just to irritate him. She wondered whether they’d ever grow out of this childish game that they played with each other, like bickering siblings that daren’t show just how much they loved each other. Rory tried to push that thought out of her head, it was weird to think of him like a sibling when she had felt like she was going to burst a kaleidoscope of butterflies when she had kissed him the night before. 

“Pack your bag, we’re off back to Hogwarts for this, oh and those classes you should probably be attending of course.” Caleb said as he turned and left the room to let her get changed out of her pyjamas. Rory had opened her mouth to tell him that actually she had Mondays free but he’d already closed the door behind him. 

When the blonde thundered down the stairs with her backpack slung over her shoulder Caleb was sat at the bottom of the staircase with Milo’s furry face in his hands, talking to him in that ‘animal voice’ that everyone has, which only made Aurora smile. 

“Who knew you had it in you to be nice to another living thing?” She quipped as she squeezed past him and Milo and headed towards the front door, swinging it open with a grin. 

He raised a thick eyebrow at her, standing up from the step he was sat on, “Animals I have no problem with, it’s people that are irritating,” he shrugged picking up the bag he’d conjured up whilst he had been waiting, and stepped out of the house past Aurora, casting a quick glance at her before he headed down the garden path. 

For the briefest of moments, Aurora imagined letting him go back to Hogwarts without her, to be the one to turn on the silent treatment and to just completely cut him out of her life again. She was sure it would probably be easier than whatever was to come, joining the Order and forcing herself back into Caleb’s life was a recipe for heartache and she had known that all along, but carried on regardless. If anyone ever asked for one word that summed her up, she knew that the first one that came to people (who really knew her at least) would be the word ‘reckless’. Actions first, thoughts later. 

The click of the door as she closed it behind her snapped Aurora back into reality, finding herself stood at the bottom of the garden path looking up at Caleb before she could even realise the choice she had just made. There was no going back now, and despite having only kissed him twice, she knew that this had been coming all along and was irreversible. 

Slipping her hand into his, she flashed him a small crooked smile as he apparated them the gates of Hogwarts where the carriages collected students when they returned to Hogwarts each start of term. Apparating wasn’t Aurora’s strong point, but she had managed to pass the test by the skin of her teeth, hiding from the examiner that she’d lost half her fingernail during the test. But she’d finally stopped feeling so sick every time she travelled via apparition. 

The pair of Gryffindors trudged up toward the castle, and Aurora quietly grumbled about not being able to apparate all the way into Hogwarts which only made Caleb roll his eyes at her complaints. 

“What exactly have you got planned for today?” Rory asked, looking up at Caleb.

“Knife throwing first, then maybe some hex practice but we’ll have to go somewhere Umbridge won’t find us. Potter’s been using the Room of Requirement, there’s actually a group of kids practicing Defence Against the Dark Arts with him.” Caleb told her this as though it were nothing that there was some sort of defence training club going on within the walls of Hogwarts that she had absolutely no idea about.

“I’m sorry - what?” Aurora spluttered, stopping in her tracks, “This has been going on and I was completely clueless?” Now she was even more pissed off. Whoever was in Potter’s little gang that she knew had better start running next time she laid eyes on them. 

“Fred and George probably assumed you didn’t need any practice, you are pretty much top of your class in D.A.D.A, Ro.” Caleb already knew there was not much point trying to reason with her, she was going to sulk about being kept out of the loop and there was not much else to it. Grabbing hold of her by the elbow, he pulled her along with him as they neared the grand entrance to the castle. 

“I am furious.” Rory huffed.

“No shit, I hadn’t noticed.” He only laughed, which just made Rory angrier. 

For the rest of the walk up to the Room of Requirement, where she’d only been once before, Rory remained silent. Even for a pureblooded witch, the way the door materialised slowly out of nowhere was mesmerising - elaborate ironwork decoration laid over the heavy wood was truly a work of art, but so was much of Hogwarts itself. 

“I’ll never get used to that,” she breathed as Caleb pushed the door open and stepped inside, motioning for Rory to follow as quickly as she could. 

Before, when Rory had been in the Room of Requirement it had been stuffed to the rafters with objects - pieces of old and beautiful furniture left in the room to go unappreciated, trinkets of all shapes and sizes as well as even an old broken motorbike, she had assumed was probably enchanted to be able to fly, or at least had been at some point. Now, the room was practically empty save for three wooden dummies with targets painted on their chests. A table to the side was covered with various sizes of daggers. 

“When you think about it, it’s pretty dangerous that the room has just given us access to those, we could go out and kill some random person.” Aurora dumped her bag at the door and wandered over to the table, running the tip of her index finger over the cool metal of one of the various daggers. 

“It knows our intentions, Rory. I don’t think the room caters to homicidal maniacs.” Caleb couldn’t quite hide the tone of irritation that laced his words, she did say some really daft things sometimes for a girl who was supposedly intelligent. 

“Depends on who enchanted the room’s moral code though, if it was Salazar Slytherin we might as well leave now because he’ll probably make one of us stab the other,” With a shrug, Aurora picked up the dagger she had been admiring - a smaller one, lighter than the rest, just like herself. 

“Someone’s clearly going to be better at this than I anticipated,” Caleb muttered under his breath, noticing that she had picked up precisely the ideal dagger for herself. 

The weight of the metal felt somehow natural in her palm, and it filled her with excitement to finally be training to be the ‘soldier’ she’d always imagined being in the Order would make her. 

“I don’t reckon I’m going to be any good at this,” Aurora said with a small laugh, her aim wasn’t entirely great at the best of times. “Do I stand a certain way to throw better or? Come on, teacher - teach away!” She cocked her head to the side and crinkled her nose, over-exaggerating an expression of confusion to annoy him.

“Relax, first. Don’t stand so bloody stiff,” Caleb said as he picked up a blade from the table and took his place opposite the target along from the one Aurora had picked as her victim.

“Pot, kettle; black. Mr Tense.” Aurora retorted with a small snigger.

Rolling his shoulders, Caleb let out a deep breath to relax his body as he half-turned and threw his hand forward from his shoulder, only letting his grip on the blade go at the last minute. From his hand, the dagger flew through the air and dug straight into the red circle in the middle of the dummy’s target, precisely where Caleb’s eyes had been set upon. 

“Keep your feet steady, hold tight onto the blade until the last second and just… throw, keep your hand at your eye level - you probably won’t get it on the first throw, nobody does.” He instructed her, before taking a few steps backwards so he could watch Aurora’s throw better.

Trying her hardest to forget about the boy stood a little behind her, watching, was definitely going to be easier said than done. Taking a few deep breaths as she cleared her mind of all things Caleb, Aurora shook her head from side to side and exhaled slowly to loosen herself off. Focusing her attention on the red circle in the centre of the target painted onto the dummy, Aurora bit down on her lower lip as she tried to push all doubt out of her mind that she couldn’t hit that target with the blade in her hand. 

Finally, after what had felt like hours but had only in fact been around a minute she lifted her hand up, took a deep breath and swung her hand forward, releasing the knife a fraction too early - her eyes snapped shut. When the thud of the blade digging into the wood of the dummy could be heard, she opened one eye cautiously, and the other opened almost immediately after in surprise. It wasn’t the centre, where she’d been aiming, but it was maybe only a few centimetres away. A smile pushed its way over her features as she turned to look at Caleb, and pouted proudly. 

Caleb tried to hide the pride that flowed through him as he watched her pick up dagger after dagger and improve for the next twenty minutes that followed. There was a part of him that was disappointed, he had wanted her to fail miserably and to rethink joining the Order. But he’d also known that Aurora didn’t fail often, and she had a point to prove to him so failure wouldn’t have been an option in her mind. She was determined, and he hadn’t seen her with that look on her face for years - not since they had been kids, building a fort or climbing a tree. She looked alive again. That light in her eyes was back, and he wasn’t sure what it was that had made it return.

Was it him? Or was it the Order? 

Wands could only defend a witch or wizard so far, and not many had taken to learning close contact fighting or knife throwing the way Caleb had trained himself to. Caleb couldn’t let Aurora walk into this battle they were going to face without every means of defence available to her. He wouldn’t let her skip a single session of training until he was sure that she was almost as lethal as he was, part of him had always thought that she had the potential to be more of a threat to anyone than he was. She was underestimated, seen as weak and small but that would never be the case. There was something in Aurora that defied her size, burned through her like wildfire - unstoppable. Caleb had never been able to pinpoint exactly what it was, but he knew it could be deadly if she harnessed it. 

It was hard to imagine the target Aurora was aiming at as a living, breathing person standing before her. Aurora was pretty certain that put into the situation where she had too choose between wounding or killing an enemy in order to protect someone innocent that she could do it - she could do anything if it was to protect someone. Truthfully, Aurora wasn’t sure she’d cope with the consequences that came with killing someone, no matter of how guilty of despicable crimes they might have been. Maybe it would get easier with time, but maybe she would never have to test her capability to kill. 

Aurora had punched a girl in the face in fifth year for calling Athea derogatory names in the Gryffindor common room. Lola Jenkins’ nose had never really returned to the shape it had been before, despite all of Madam Pomfrey’s attempts, and Aurora couldn’t have cared less about it. She felt no guilt whatsoever about hurting her, when she had hurt Athea. Lola never did say anything about either Athea or Aurora, at least within earshot, again. Did her lack of guilt for hurting some backstabbing girl mean that if she felt it was justified, she wouldn’t feel guilt for taking someone’s life?

“How many times did it take you to hit the middle?” Aurora asked, she was nearing closer and closer and she wondered how long it had taken Caleb, and hoped that she was improving quicker than he had. Who had taught him this? The question passed through her thoughts and she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

It would’ve been himself.

Caleb had been fifteen, and orphaned only weeks before. The house had been a mess with the house elf sent away, and Caleb had refused anyone entry to his home. At fifteen, Rory remembered how skinny and tall he had been, lanky was probably a better word. Losing himself in target practice, any kind of weaponry training or combat training had brought him back to reality and eventually he returned to school, and joined the Order the minute it was reborn. 

“A few, but if you're feeling competitive maybe we can take turns standing in front of a dummy and see who misses.” Caleb suggested with a hard stare, kinking one eyebrow at her expectantly. 

“You’d be the one who got stabbed so I don’t know why you look so pleased with your idea, idiot.” Aurora rolled her eyes before she turned at a forty five degree angle to the target and exhaled, then stepped into her throw.

“Bullseye!” She cried as the blade dug into the centre of the target. “Clearly, I’ve got the best teacher possible,” Rory teased, trying her hardest not to snigger at her sarcasm. 

“Fake flattery gets you nowhere Ro,” it was a half-lie, because anything positive Aurora said about him left him feeling warm and insanely teenager-like. Aurora padded over to him, and being closer to her only made it more difficult to concentrate on keeping himself as distanced from her as he could - but he’d been failing at that drastically for the past three days. 

“How long have you known, about the Order, I mean?” Caleb asked, curious to know what it was that had given him away. He hadn’t been expecting the laugh that came in response, chiming from her small frame.

“Oh, Caleb. We may not have spent a lot of time together for the past few years, but sometimes I swear I know you better than you know yourself.” She rolled her hazel eyes at him, “I wasn’t sure until the other day, but I always suspected something was going on - cuts and bruises, disappearing from the castle, it’s not like you’d joined the Death Eaters sooo…” She shrugged, walking back over to the table and replacing the dagger she’d been practicing with. 

It made sense that she had managed to work it out, but anyone who didn’t know him quite as well would’ve probably just assumed the injuries had been from Quidditch. “You really have been paying attention, haven’t you? Stalker.” Caleb teased, trying not to grin too much for fear that it would split open his burst lip from the night before. He too, had been keeping his eye on Aurora. He’d never stopped caring about her, he’d just not wanted to end up caring any more than he already did. 

“I don’t like this, you, putting yourself in danger,” He said after a moment of silence. 

This time, Aurora couldn’t suppress the sigh of frustration that left her body, “You won’t change my mind Caleb, and I know you already know that somewhere in you. So please, just drop it.” She took a step away from him as she spoke, losing her interest in being close to him if he was going to insist on trying to make her feel guilty for a decision that had made her feel liberated, and finally in control of her own life. 

Caleb cast his dark gaze down to the floor, looking down the blade in his hand that he’d accio-ed to him while Rory had been practicing her aim. He knew that most people would’ve maybe offered a ‘sorry’ Aurora’s way, but he had no intention for apologising for wanting her to stay out of harm’s way. She had been right when she had said that her family were probably already a target to the Death Eaters - her parents were ex-Order, and that made them as good as members of the reformed Order of the Phoenix. But throwing herself directly into the firing line so wholeheartedly was enough to make Caleb want to lock her in a cupboard somewhere and never let her see the light of day until this was all over - but how long would that take?

Voldemort had kept to himself more or less in the months since his return, there is no rushing world domination after all. There had been no real battles, this war that was coming could take years, if there even was an end in sight at all. A cupboard wasn’t really an option, and knowing how awkward Aurora could be she’d only find a way out through every charm Caleb could ever create to keep her safe. 

“You are such a pain in the arse.” Caleb finally said, looking back up at the delicate girl stood in front of him with the bright hazel eyes. She was the most frustrating person to have ever graced his life, and that was why he couldn’t let her go again.


End file.
